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1 Enoch
1 Enoch, the First Book of Enoch, is ancient Jewish apocrypha that is ascribed to Biblical Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not regarded as scripture by Jews or any Christian group, apart from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which to this day regards it to be canonical. Western scholars currently assert that its older sections (mainly in the Book of the Watchers) date from about 300 BC and the latest part (Book of Parables) probably was composed at the end of the 1st century BC.Fahlbusch E., Bromiley G.W. The Encyclopedia of Christianity: P–Sh page 411, ISBN 0-8028-2416-1 (2004) It is wholly extant only in the Ge'ez language, with Aramaic fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls and a few Greek and Latin fragments. Ethiopian scholars generally hold that Ge'ez is the language of the original from which the Greek and Aramaic copies were made, pointing out that it is the only language in which the complete text has yet been found. However, there is no consensus among Western scholars about the original language, as some propose Aramaic, and others Hebrew. E. Isaac suggests that 1 Enoch, like the book of Daniel, was composed partially in Aramaic and partially in Hebrew.E. Isaac 1 Enoch, a new Translation and Introduction in ed. James Charlesworth The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Vol 1 ISBN 0-385-09630-5 (1983), p.6 Content A short section of 1 Enoch (1 En 1:9) is quoted in the New Testament (Jude 1:14-15), and there apparently attributed to "Enoch the Seventh from Adam" (1 En 60:8). It is argued that all the writers of the New Testament were familiar with it and were influenced by it in thought and diction.Cheyne and Black. Encyclopedia Biblica (1899) "Apocalyptic Literature" (column 220) The first part of Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the Nephilim. The remainder of the book describes Enoch's visits to Heaven in the form of travels, visions and dreams, and his revelations. The book consists of five quite distinct major sections (see each section for details): #The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1 – 36) #The Book of Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37 – 71) (Also called the Similitudes of Enoch) #The Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72 – 82) (Also called the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries or Book of Luminaries. ) #The Book of Dream Visions (1 Enoch 83 – 90) (Also called the Book of Dreams) #The Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 91 – 108) Based on the different dates of composition, Vanderkam and Nickelsburg argue that these distinct sections are independent works with much editorial arrangements, that were later redacted into what we now call 1 Enoch. Vanderkam, JC. (2004). 1 Enoch: A New Translation. Minneapolis:Fortress. pp. 1ff (ie. preface summary).; Nickelsburg, GW. (2004). 1 Enoch: A Commentary. Minneapolis:Fortress. pp. 7–8. Ethiopian Wossenie Yifru, who maintains the literary integrity of the Book of Enoch, opposes this view. Józef Milik has suggested that The Book of Giants found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls should be part of the collection, appearing after the Book of Watchers and in place of the Book of Parables, but for various reasons Milik's theory has not been widely accepted. See also * Books of Enoch References External links * Wilhelm Fragments of the book of Enoch [PDF] * [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Enoch Wikipedia: Book of Enoch] Category:Books of Enoch